


Yes I Know There’s a Word for This but Do I Look Like I Can Pronounce French?

by A_MX



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Percy Jackson/Annabeth, F/M, M/M, Multi, Not Canon Compliant - The Trials of Apollo, Polyamory, Post-The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 00:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21226976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_MX/pseuds/A_MX
Summary: "It didn’t really matter, though. For the next two years, I would spend most of my time cramming and trying to catch up on school. I wouldn’t have much time outside holidays to think about camp in general and Nico in particular."





	Yes I Know There’s a Word for This but Do I Look Like I Can Pronounce French?

**Author's Note:**

> A little note about the characters' ages. The whole PJatO timeline is confusing and often contradicts itself (I'm fairly certain the wiki places The Titan's Curse in the wrong year, for instance), so I decided to base this fic's timeline off a post on Rick's Instagram where he stated that during the The Lost Oracle, Nico is fifteen. This fic takes place two years after Blood of Olympus, so Nico would be 16 and Percy would be 18, if I got my research right. It's a bit confusing (the wiki says he's 14, Rick says he's 15, etc etc) but for the sake of this fic, their ages are 16 and 18.

‘You’re cute, but you’re not my type.’

Nico, what the fuck dude?

Now, I know what you’re thinking right now. You’re thinking ‘Perseus Jackson, if you say one homophobic word, I will personally come to Long Island and punch you in the nuts’, so let me get one thing straight right away: I have zero issues with gay people. Really! One of my best friends is gay! Apparently! Because he just told me he used to be into me and I mean, that’s kinda gay, right?

But it doesn’t happen every day that, after you successfully teamed up to keep the literal Earth from putting you six feet under, somebody just walks up to you and casually confesses a crush, right? I mean, anybody would be dumbstruck if that happened, or almost everybody.

Anyway, there I was, standing at the campfire and gaping at Nico’s retreating back (not like that, you perv!), while my girlfriend was laughing so hard, I feared she might, like, get a stroke or something. What was so funny, I honestly had no idea.

‘So, he…’

‘Yes’, Annabeth struggled to get her laughter under control.

‘But… he… I mean…. what?’

‘Yes!’

‘He said… but he always…’

‘YES!’

I’m fairly certain that at this point, she was close to questioning my sanity, and looking back now, I can’t blame her. Contrary to popular belief, I am actually a very observant guy, but when it comes to romance, I’ve been known to be a bit slow on the uptake every now and then. For instance, it took me four years, a war and one short-lived relationship with another girl to realise that Annabeth likes me.

But then, as Nico was strolling back towards the infirmary, I was struggling to wrap my head around what he had just said to me. As I began regaining my composure, I felt like a lot of puzzle pieces suddenly clicked into place – Nico’s complicated attitude towards me, always helping me while seemingly detesting me; his hero worship shtick after we brought Bianca and him to camp – but even more so, I felt overwhelmed by questions. Such as ‘why me’, ‘everyone said you had it bad for Annabeth’, ‘what did you tell me that for’, ‘why is my girlfriend laughing did I say something funny’ and a lot more.

‘You’re drooling again.’

Gee thanks Wise Girl. I hastily wiped my mouth on my shirt and tried to pretend like I hadn’t just gotten the shock of my lifetime. Annabeth still looked like she might crack up again and I still had no idea _what she found so funny_.

‘Stop making that face’, she chided. ‘You’re thinking too hard.’

‘Here’, she thrust a cup into my hands, ‘stop being all gloom and enjoy the party!’

‘I’ll have you know I’m not _being all gloom_, thank you very much’, I replied, but I took the cup nevertheless. After taking a sip, I was slightly disappointed to find it was cola, but that disappointment turned into delight after a closer inspection revealed it wasn’t just cola, but _blue_ cola.

‘So, this is it’, Annabeth dreamily said. ‘War’s over.’

‘Yeah. Until the next crazy prophecy or something.’

‘Oh lighten up you’, she lightly punched my arm. ‘I said no gloom, remember?’

We ironically clinked our cups against each other. It was just lukewarm cola, served in plastic cups, but it tasted like something far better, and for a moment, I allowed myself to belief that maybe, she was right. We had won a war. The second one in a row. Maybe this time, we could actually enjoy our peace.

I didn’t see Nico for the rest of the evening. At some point, Jason and Piper sat down next to us, and as far as victory celebration campfire evenings can go, it was a fairly pleasant one.

‘So, what are y’all gonna be up to now?’ I eventually asked.

Jason shrugged. ‘I mean, I have about five hundred minor gods to appease, y’know.’

Ah, right. I’d already forgotten about his promise.

Piper giggled. ‘Me? Honestly, I have no clue.’

I suspected she might be a little bit tipsy. Of course, nobody was supposed to have alcohol, but with Mr D and a bunch of his kids around, you never know. Or the Stolls, I wouldn’t have put it behind them to smuggle booze into the camp.

‘What about you?’

‘School’, said Annabeth, and at the same time, I said ‘Nothing.’

The group burst into laughter while Annabeth and I had a little stare-off. It ended rather abruptly when she rolled her eyes at me and decided to pull me into a kiss instead, eliciting a bunch of ‘oooh’s and ‘aaaah’s from the others. I could swear I heard her mutter something about seaweed for brains under her breath, but I couldn’t bring myself to care all that much.

Later, as we were stumbling back to our cabins, my thoughts wandered back to the conversation with Nico earlier. We stopped outside my cabin.

‘So, when he said I wasn’t his type’, I started.

‘Percy…’

‘Then how come he liked me in the first place?’

Annabeth rolled her eyes and I got the feeling I had said something wrong.

‘Percy?’

‘Yes?’

‘Shut up and kiss me.’

Which I did. The mystery of Nico’s unprompted confession could wait until the next day.

I never did get the chance to confront him about it, though. For the next few days, Nico seemed dead set on avoiding me, citing medical examinations, exhaustion or mysteriously disappearing towards the loo. By the time the Apollo kids deemed him fit to leave the infirmary, even I had gotten the hint and decided to leave it. Most of us were busy helping rebuilding camp, and all too soon, the time came for Annabeth and me.

Thanks to Paul’s connections, a school had been found for me to attend. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about it and would have preferred to just stay at camp, but it was hard to resist the combined urges of Paul’s responsible stepfather attitude, Annabeth’s determined lecturing me on the importance of education, and my mother’s puppy eyes.

‘Take care’, Jason actually hugged me goodbye.

‘Remember to IM us some time’, Piper joined in.

Frank and Hazel insisted on hugging us too, and I was just about to complain about everyone being all touchy-feely when Chiron trotted up to us.

‘Hello sir’, I greeted. ‘Would you like to hug me, too?’

That seemed to confuse the old centaur for a moment. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Never mind’, I hastily added. ‘Annabeth and I were just about to leave.’

‘Ah, yes.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Now, I’m sure you are aware of that, but nevertheless, I would like to remind you that it is imperative that you two stay out of trouble. Remember, we have demigods nearby and camp is just one pegasus ride away. If anything weird happens, _don’t_ investigate on your own, understood? Leave it to us.’

I opened my mouth to protest, but was cut off by Annabeth.

‘Of course, Chiron.’

She reached up to embrace him, and I couldn’t help the suspicion that she was behind the whole stay-out-of-trouble plan.

As we walked down the hill towards where my mum and Paul were waiting with the car, I was slightly disappointed that Nico hadn’t shown up to say goodbye to us. I mean, that’s proper mixed signals, right? First he casually dropped the bomb that he used to crush on me, and then he avoided me like the plague? Not fair, bro.

It didn’t really matter, though. For the next two years, I would spend most of my time cramming and trying to catch up on school. I wouldn’t have much time outside holidays to think about camp in general and Nico in particular.

♦

_One And a Half Years Later, Give or Take a Few Months_

‘…and I expect all of you to improve, did I make myself clear? This has got to be one of the most underperforming classes I have ever had the displeasure of teaching—is there anything funny you would like to share with the rest of us, Mr Jackson?’

I had been unable to suppress a grin during Mr Torres speech and quickly put up the best poker face I could. Torres was not only Nelson High’s most senior Maths teacher but had also been a veteran of several wars—something he never failed to remind us of—prior to swapping his rifle for chalk and calculators, and he had carried his staff sergeant attitude over to his teaching.

‘No, sir.’

‘Now, as I was saying…’ he continued his lecture, and I let my thoughts wander again. It was ten minutes before the end of the lesson and right now, anything was more interesting than Torres’ ever-repeating motivational phrases on ‘manning up’ and whatnot. I’m fairly certain that by the time the bell rung, nobody was paying attention any more, not even the try-hard few who were always sucking up to him.

‘Alright, that’s it for today, class. Dismissed!’

As everyone stuffed their textbook and paper into their bags, I was startled out of my thoughts and, belated, started packing my own things, too. Before I could leave, however, I saw the teacher motioning me over.

‘Jackson.’

‘Sir.’

‘I can’t help but notice your grades fall short of the rest of the class’. Do you have an explanation as to why that is, Jackson?’

I felt a sense of deja-vu. Too often had I had the very same conversation with other teachers over the past few years. I could hardly tell him that I struggled reading anything that wasn’t Ancient Greek, or that I was distracted because my mind was preparing for a battle that wasn’t going to happen.

‘Maths isn’t exactly my strong suit, sir.’

‘Bah, excuses. Who’s tutoring you?’

‘My girlfriend, sir.’ Because I felt like that might not sound impressive enough, I added, ‘top of her class at university, sir’.

Torres grunted. ‘Well, kindly tell her to go over the difference quotient with you again. We’ll progress to properly deriving functions in a few weeks and I expect everyone, including you, to have understood the topic by then.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘After that, we’ll be looking at maxima and minima and, later, inflection points. If you want to successfully pass the upcoming exams, which I expect you to, then you might want to get a head start on these topics.’

‘Understood, sir.’

‘You are older than the rest of the class, and I would think that it’s past time for you to show some initiative and make yourself familiar with the subject, did I make myself clear?’

‘Absolutely, sir.’

‘Very well. Good afternoon, Mr Jackson.’

I suppressed the urge to either flip him off or ironically salute him. The man’s pseudo-military demeanour was, frankly, quite unnerving and I couldn’t help but think that the former sergeant—crew cut, cargo pants, posture stiff as a board—would fit right in with the Ares cabin at camp, or maybe the Twelfth Legion.

I pushed these thoughts aside as I stepped out of the school and towards the parking lot. Opposite the entrance stood the second-hand Volkswagen Annabeth and I had bought after moving here, with a little financial help from my mum and Paul. Leaning against it was Annabeth herself, nose buried, how else could it be, in a book. As she heard me approaching, she put the book away.

‘Afternoon, Perce!’ she called as she spread her arms for a hug.. ‘Thought you weren’t gonna show up anymore.’

‘Sorry’, I mumbled as I pulled her into my arms and buried my face on her shoulder. ‘Sarge Torres wanted to have a word with me. You know how he is.’

While she had never met the man in person, Annabeth had had to endure plenty of complaints from me about him over the past few months. Really, the man would be better off playing drill sergeant at some boot camp. I was kind of disappointed he hadn’t made us calculate artillery trajectories yet to live up to his reputation.

Now you might ask, Percy, why are you a junior in high school while your girlfriend is in university? Aren’t you two the same age, you might ask, what’s going on Percy? And the answer is, yeah we are, but Annabeth is, like, incredibly smart. Runs in the family, really. So while I spent last summer studying my ass off to catch up on the several classes I’d missed over the years before, she signed up for college. I’m fairly certain her mum might have had to do with getting her enrolled.

‘Where are we going?’ I asked as Annabeth revved up the engine and drove onto the street. ‘Home?’

She’d said she’d pick me up later, promising a surprise today.

‘I’ve got a lecture later, but I was thinking we could try out that new ice cream place on West 42nd?’ Annabeth replied. ‘And I’ve asked Tari from my structural engineering course to lend me her projector so we can watch _Iron Man_ again before the new _Thor_ comes out next month.’

‘My birthday isn’t for another four months, you know.’

She grinned. ‘I know.’

I leant over the stick shift to peck her on the cheek. ‘You’re the best.’

‘Oh shut up.’

‘I love you.’

‘Love you too.’

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly have no clue where I'm going with this story. I have about two paragraphs of outline written but it's more of a "make it up as I go" kinda thing, with all the fics I've written lately, chapter word count goals, detailed draft, etc, I missed just writing away with no plan.
> 
> Not too familiar with the American education system, so I had to google and ask on reddit. Apparently, American Maths classes are lagging behind their European equivalent? Anyhow, I hope it's enough to write some semi-authentic classroom scenes.


End file.
